Multimedia Laptops Buyers Guide
Sure, everyone enjoys watching web videos and having video chats with family and friends but multimedia notebooks offer a premium high-definition entertainment experience that you just won’t find with a more affordable general purpose laptop. Multimedia notebooks are often categorized as luxury or premium notebooks since these systems offer higher resolution displays for watching high-definition video and usually come equipped with faster processors and mid-range discrete graphics for 1080p Blu-ray playback, editing HD home movies and even watching 3D TV on select models.
Multimedia notebooks aren’t just focused on providing a rich visual experience but also frequently offer enhanced audio playback with software that automatically enhances music and other audio files. This category of laptops also often includes “branded” stereo speakers and subwoofers from well-known speaker manufactures built into the laptop so that you get theater-quality sound even when you’re watching movies on the road. Multimedia notebooks are all about content consumption and content creation so you can expect to find high capacity hard drives for storing your full library of photos, videos and music.
Most multimedia notebooks come with 15-inch or 17-inch HD displays, but there are some 14-inch premium entertainment notebooks that offer a better-than-average multimedia experience for those people who want a more mobile solution. Multimedia notebooks typically cost several hundred dollars more than a general purpose laptop with the same size screen due to higher performance components and often extensive use of metal or alloy in the construction of the notebook to provide a “luxury” feel.
17-inch multimedia notebooks that use a large percentage of aluminum or alloy might easily weigh more than seven pounds but a good 14-inch multimedia notebook shouldn’t weigh more than about five pounds.
Recent Multimedia Laptops Reviews
Lenovo Review
Lenovo IdeaPad Y70 Touch Review
Lenovo's flagship entertainment notebook features an outstanding 17.3-inch touch display and good performance at a digestible price point. Read full article
Review
Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro Review
Lenovo hopes to conquer the thin-and-light convertible Ultrabook market with its new Yoga 3 Pro. It sports a newly designed hinge and Intel Core M processor. Does this stylish 2-in-1[...] Read full article
Review
Lenovo IdeaPad Y40 Review
Is it possible to get a thin-and-light gaming notebook with enough power to play today’s games for around $800? Lenovo designed its 14” IdeaPad Y40 to answer that question. Read[...] Read full article
Review
Lenovo Y50 Review
This 15-inch laptop sports a slimmer design and potent upgrades including Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 860M graphics and a 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor. Is this a great budget gaming[...] Read full article
Dell Review
Dell XPS 11 User Review
Take another look at what makes the Dell XPS 11 so appealing and find out if that notorious keyboard is better than we thought. Read full article
Review
Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Review
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series is a jack-of-all-trades with an i7 processor, NVIDIA graphics, loads of RAM and a large hard drive space. Is this the right choice for[...] Read full article
Review
Dell XPS 15 (2014) Review
This high-end multimedia notebook features a remarkable Quad HD+ screen, an aluminum and carbon fiber chassis and excellent performance. This is our take. Read full article
Review
Toshiba KIRAbook Review: Hi-Res Ultrabook With Style
The Toshiba KIRAbook is an ultrabook with both a high-resolution screen and impressive specs, but does it hold up under our scrutiny? Read our full review to find out. Read full article
Review
HP Spectre 13 X2 Review
HP makes its play for the popular convertible market with the 2-in-1 HP Spectre 13 X2. With a stylish design and a high-quality keyboard dock the Spectre certainly has its[...] Read full article
Review
Dell XPS 11 Review: Flexible or Flailing?
The 360-degree hinged Dell XPS 11 2-in-1 laptop/tablet offers a solid Windows 8.1 experience in both modes and offers good connectivity, but will its odd keyboard make it fall flat?[...] Read full article
Lenovo IdeaPad Y70 Touch Review
Lenovo's flagship entertainment notebook features an outstanding 17.3-inch touch display and good performance at a digestible price point. Read full article
Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro Review
Lenovo hopes to conquer the thin-and-light convertible Ultrabook market with its new Yoga 3 Pro. It sports a newly designed hinge and Intel Core M processor. Does this stylish 2-in-1[...] Read full article
Lenovo IdeaPad Y40 Review
Is it possible to get a thin-and-light gaming notebook with enough power to play today’s games for around $800? Lenovo designed its 14” IdeaPad Y40 to answer that question. Read[...] Read full article
Lenovo Y50 Review
This 15-inch laptop sports a slimmer design and potent upgrades including Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 860M graphics and a 4th generation Intel Core i7 processor. Is this a great budget gaming[...] Read full article
Dell XPS 11 User Review
Take another look at what makes the Dell XPS 11 so appealing and find out if that notorious keyboard is better than we thought. Read full article
Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Review
The Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series is a jack-of-all-trades with an i7 processor, NVIDIA graphics, loads of RAM and a large hard drive space. Is this the right choice for[...] Read full article
Dell XPS 15 (2014) Review
This high-end multimedia notebook features a remarkable Quad HD+ screen, an aluminum and carbon fiber chassis and excellent performance. This is our take. Read full article
Toshiba KIRAbook Review: Hi-Res Ultrabook With Style
The Toshiba KIRAbook is an ultrabook with both a high-resolution screen and impressive specs, but does it hold up under our scrutiny? Read our full review to find out. Read full article
HP Spectre 13 X2 Review
HP makes its play for the popular convertible market with the 2-in-1 HP Spectre 13 X2. With a stylish design and a high-quality keyboard dock the Spectre certainly has its[...] Read full article
Dell XPS 11 Review: Flexible or Flailing?
The 360-degree hinged Dell XPS 11 2-in-1 laptop/tablet offers a solid Windows 8.1 experience in both modes and offers good connectivity, but will its odd keyboard make it fall flat?[...] Read full article